LibertyBell

when you look at climate models and predicted sea level rise and compare it vs whats actually occurring, the actual sea level rise is near the more extreme scenarios....we've already had a 1 ft sea level rise and if we continue to stay near the values predicted by the more extreme scenarios we'll add 3 more feet to that by 2070 and up to 8 feet by 2100. Some areas are experiencing sea level rise quicker than others (most notably the US east coast and the gulf coast.) Sunny day flooding has become a reality here on the south shore of Long Island.....

yes and the oceans are getting hotter also.

and mass extinctions happened back then too, just like we are having now.

I think the biggest proof is that anthropogenic climate change has occurred much faster than any "natural" climate change occurred in the past and the current mass extinction..... and here's something more philosophical and even more sobering..... Scientists are puzzled about why we haven't found any signs of life elsewhere in the universe (we should now be able to detect inadvertent signals sent out from technology). I have a scary thought that I've had for years but seems to be becoming more and more likely......what if technological life almost always goes down the same road....to destruction? Billions of possible earthlike planets out there and what if 99.999999999999% of them have the same sad outcome, technological evolution almost inevitably leading to self destruction? I see us heading down that way too, I have for years, but with even more certainty now. The Great Filter isn't behind us, it's staring us right in the face and if we are like most, we will suffer the same sad result. In the end that result may be for the best though, as the planet would almost certainly recover from we've been doing to it since the industrial age began.

I'm amazed people like him devote so much time and energy to something that is so awful.

I saw a WaPo article that mentioned 2012 and the record melt off that occurred that year and then mentioned Sandy and the anomalous track it took. Do you believe the two are connected, Don (research seems to be pointing this way with regards to strong blocking and arctic ice melt) and if so, do you think a similar melt off this year could result in another storm like that come October (when these kinds of storms are most likely to happen?)

the other thing that lends credence to my "130 barrier" idea, is that Death Valley has hit 129 on about half a dozen occasions but never hit 130 before this (in modern history at least.) And neither has any other location on this planet (that we know of.)

I'm going to jump in here on a different topic....what is this warning about that NASA issued this past week? A hole in earth's magnetic field and they're investigating the South Atlantic Anomaly?

that 100 degree temp in Alaska had to be below the arctic circle. Anyway the 100.4 in Siberia was the first 100 on record above it. The main reason why any readings above 130 are questioned is because it hasnt happened since- not only that- if the next highest temp at a location is 5 degrees less, then it really has to be questioned. You'd expect that temperature to be approached again at least once in a 100 years.

Burt provides a compelling case for many of these early readings being questionable. I believe this is how the 137 reading in Algeria was overturned also. It's doubtful that instrumentation back then followed "the rules" about sheltering. I think the 131 reading in Tunisia should be on that list too. Burt argues that since then those locations have never even approached the temps they supposedly recorded back then and there are several cases of abnormally high readings from that era (1910s to 1930s). I'm both a high and low temperature buff so I like to keep track of these things.....there have only been a few locations in the world that have approached 130....as a matter of fact, there seems to be some barrier there that is extremely hard to exceed.....besides Death Valley, the "128+ club" consists of Basra, Iraq, Mitribah, Kuwait, Ahwaz, Iran and Turbat Pakistan.....all of these locations have seen high temperatures between 128.6 and 129.6 This reading of 129.9 is the closest we've ever gotten in the modern era to 130. This excludes the very rare heat bursts of course, which are extremely hard to confirm (aside from burnt crops, burnt trees, burnt doors, etc.).....if you include them, there was a 140 supposedly in Oklahoma and even a 189 in Abadan, Iran. I dont know where you stand on anomalous heat bursts, I find them intriguing, but dont think they can realistically be included in the temperature record. It's really difficult to exceed 126 degrees on this planet, only a few locations have ever done it, and even then only by a couple of degrees at most.

there have been several of these early readings that have been overturned in recent years. There has to be a second instrument in a nearby location to provide an adequate proof of what was recorded, otherwise we just cant verify it. With the 1913 reading, none of the nearby towns were within even 10 degrees of that reading.

Chris, Death Valley recorded the first 130 degree temp in the shade in modern history......and if verified, it will be the first verified 130 degree temp ever recorded (all the ones before are being challenged because no other nearby location was nearly as hot.) While, at the same time, there was a unique severe thunderstorm and heavy rain going on in SF.......

Thanks Don. I heard that Death Valley hit 130 degrees?! It's the first 130 degree temp in the modern era and if verified it will be the ONLY 130 degree temp ever recorded in the shade!

How long do you plan to be around though? I'd put the hard limit at around 2050 which I'm sure 90% of coastal residents living near sea level will have experienced it in some way, shape or form.

I think the major news over the upcoming decade will be the rapid melting in Antarctica.

They might say that but we're tinkering with nature already. Also, we're going to be tinkering with other planets anyway, like Mars. The only real way to fix something bad we've done is to neutralize it by doing something good. Doing "something good" also consists of prosecuting the fossil fuel industry, imprisoning the people who run those companies and fining them to bankruptcy and seizing all their assets, and yes this needs to be done on a worldwide level. I'm sure by now you've read about how they've been going after lawyers who file lawsuits against them on behalf of third world nations where they cause more pollution and death than anywhere else.

I like the droughts more, as the higher dew points result in breathing difficulties and more pollution. Do you think it will be possible to invent a global dehumidifier to suck out all this excess humidity? After all, water vapor is a GHG. I wouldn't mind if humankind found a way to lower sea levels by reclaiming some of the land lost to the oceans (70% oceans is a little too much, it should be more like 50% ocean 50% land.) Anything that happens can also be geoengineered away. It's high time humanity started tinkering with the environment to fix it rather than just let it all go downhill. Looks like we will be doing the same on Mars within the next few decades, as NASA just sent a rover there that converts CO2 to O2.

did NYC average 80.0 for the month, Chris?

Waiting for today's update, Tony

why are we still allowing for development along the shore? I know that Miami, New Orleans, Charleston, and NYC all have plans to replenish the sand and even build sea walls to keep the ocean at bay, but at some point it wont be enough. NYC has a trillion dollar plan to extend the coast outwards.

Yesterday was the way heat is supposed to be! lol NYC was 4 degrees cooler than JFK

bleh I thought JFK reached 90 here yesterday? We did (just barely) hit 90 here in SW Nassau. TV Met on ABC said "all NYC airports hit 90"

weird....90 at JFK and 87 at NYC

the new kind of cross polar flow ;-) considering that Maine and Montreal almost made it to triple digits, how hot would it have been had that air made it down here, Chris?

Is this connected to the record heat we have been seeing across the north (Siberia, Canada, Vermont, Maine, Northern NY, etc?)